Following the departure from Star Wars Episode IX by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, Disney and Lucasfilm have officially announced that J.J. Abrams will return to the iconic franchise to conclude the new sequel trilogy which began with his own Star Wars: The Force Awakens! Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was quoted saying:

With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy.

Colin Trevorrow was essentially let go from his directorial duties on Episode IX due to a number of creative differences between him and Kathleen Kennedy. It's become apparent that Disney and Lucasfilm are not messing around when it comes to how they wish their new Star Wars trilogy to be portrayed. Many directors have already bit the dust attempting to add their own creative spin to the extremely popular franchise.

Update: Following the news above off Abrams return comes the news direct from Star Wars' Official Twitter page that Episode IX has been delayed until December 20, 2019. Has Lucasfilm realized that the Holiday season is the most beneficial for its franchise after a lackluster summer for cinema releases? Will the Han Solo also be delayed to December of next year?

Are you pleased to see J.J. back in the director's seat and writer's room for Episode IX? Let us know in the comments!

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Fantastic news! Apart from Rian Johnson (so far), Abrams is the only director who hasn't been marred by disagreements with Lusasfilm/Disney execs. Additionally, his name has enough pull that he can probably get away with more creative freedom anyway. I only see this as a good thing.

Exactly what I was thinking - he's a safe bet for the franchise and for a culminating episode like IX, I would rather them be strict with who they let direct than let anyone have a go at it. He started the new trilogy, makes sense for him to end it.

This is definitely good news! I thought it would have been cool to see three different directors and I really wanted Rian Johnson to write episode 9 as well, BUT Abrams is a very solid director. Some of his issues are nerve racking, but he loves Star Wars and has an opportunity to do something much more original/fresh this time!